February 2022

22 Buckden Roundabout February 2022 School & Pre - School Our new starters have settled in well and have enjoyed our activities. We started off the year with a bear turn taking activi- ty, giving the children the chance to share what they ’ d done over the holidays. We also had plenty of free play activities such as playdough and a well - stocked kitchen. In the maths area, we started with counting and sequencing by size using the counting bears and number fans. But as the term got under way, some of the children showed an interest in nu- merals and shapes, so our latest maths activity challenges them to form shapes from pipe cleaners. This is great for coor- dination and strengthening hand muscle, as is our colour - matching peg activity, where they clip each peg to its matching colour spot on a disc. Our Books of the Week so far have been the much - loved ‘ The Gruffalo ’ by Julia Donaldson and ‘ Someone Bigger ’ by Jonathan Emmett, which reminds us that even if we ’ re small, we still have something to offer! We are still hoping for our visit from the Oral Health Educator, but this is Covid - dependent. In the meantime, we ’ re looking forward to activities based around the themes of Chinese New Year, Valentine ’ s Day and the Winter Olympics. We ’ ll also be talking about emotions and being kind during Children ’ s Men- tal Health Week, with the help of ‘ The Colour Monster ’ book. COVID - 19 MEASURES: To keep everyone safe, we are still ask- ing that all parents and carers queue outside rather than in the foyer and wear a face mask. COMMITTEE AND EMAIL CHANGES: We ’ ve welcomed Helen Lumb as our Acting Chairperson and have a new email address for any committee enquiries: buckdenpreschoolcom- mittee@gmail.com For financial matters, please continue to contact our Treasurer, Debs, at: buckdenpreschooltreas- ury@gmail.com JOB VACANCY: We are seeking a cleaner to work for 1.5 - 2 hrs every Friday afternoon after Preschool closes (term - time only). They will supplement the daily cleaning carried out by staff, cleaning high - use areas every week and other areas monthly. A DBS check will be required. For further details, please con- tact the committee: buckdenpreschoolcommittee@gmail.com. To arrange a visit or apply for a place, please call 01480 810600 or email us at buckdenpreschool@yahoo.co.uk. For more infor- mation, visit www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk/ BUCKDEN CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY ACADEMY Febuary 2022 Happy New Year to the residents of Buckden, Diddington and Southoe from the staff and pupils at Buckden School. We have returned to school after the Christmas holidays to a much quieter term than the last one! Like most families around the country some were lucky to have family gatherings over the Christmas period, whilst other were less fortunate and had to cancel or re - arrange family/Christmas celebrations due to COVID and restrictions. We are still in challenging times with COVID and safety remains our key priority. For the beginning of the Spring Term we have reviewed and updated our school measures to limit the impact of positive cases, we continue to work closely with Public Health England and the Department for Education for guid- ance. We are very fortunate and thankful that families are lat- eral flow testing as a matter of course and we are able to act as quickly as we can to the ever changing guidance and re- strictions related to COVID. We have ensured that all the chil- dren throughout the school are set up with TEAMs login ’ s so that at a moment ’ s notice we can revert to remote learning, though this will be as a last resort. For those children who are at home isolating they are able to carry on with home learning through their weekly class blog page via the school website. Our Reception children have settled nicely into the school life as they start their second term. During January they had the exciting opportunity to go out within the village and plant trees. Also once a month the children have a Zoom meeting with Hardwick Dene residents which is lovely to see the chil- dren interacting with an older generation. Thank you so much to everyone in the community who helped us collect blue tokens through the Tesco Community Grant Scheme. We were awarded £500 for our Sensory Room, where we shall purchase weighted jackets and blankets, as well as more sensory support resources for when the lights are dimmed in the Peace Pod. An update from our recent fund raising activities from the Au- tumn Term is that we raised £272.45 for the Royal British le- gion and a whopping £475.42 for Children In Need. A huge thank you to children, parents and staff who donated such a fabulous amount, it is greatly appreciated. We are currently looking to appoint a Catering Assistant to join our friendly, successful, hardworking and supportive kitchen team. The position is to start as soon as possible. For further details and how to apply please visit the school website and look for School Vacancies under our About Us tab. Can we please take the opportunity to remind our parents and visitors about safety and parking around the school area. We all need to be aware of the needs of the local residents as well as the traffic and parking regulations around the school. The Parish Council very kindly donated money to us to purchase safety parking signs to promote more considerate parking, which can now be seen outside the school. Remember extra parking spaces are available at the Millennium Centre, which is a short walk from the school. We realise this is a contentious issue, and one the school is trying to keep under control, but we need everyone to show consideration for all residents in the village. Thank you for your co - operation.